Recent heavy winds uprooting trees in Fort Morgan

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A tree, uprooted by wind, fell on top of this house at 227 Park St. in Fort Morgan on Friday, piercing holes in the roof. It was set for professional removal Wednesday, according to the home's tenant, Dave Ruppel.

Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times

Tree-trimming and removal professional Dad Strange (pointing) speaks with the tenants at 130 S. Ensign St. in Fort Morgan about what it would take to remove this tree that was uprooted by wind Tuesday and fell over into the backyard and broke off a large branch on the neighbor's roof.

Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times

Wind uprooted a tree at 130 S. Ensign St. and sent it tumbling down into the backyard, narrowly missing this chicken coop but sending a branch onto the neighboring roof.

Strong winds have pulled more than one tree out of the ground in Fort Morgan over the last five days, with at least one happening Friday and many more occurrences on Tuesday afternoon.

The storm last Friday sent a large tree onto the roof at 227 Park St., surprising resident Dave Ruppel.

“It sounded like thunder at first,” he said. “Then it kept going and got really loud.”

Before he knew it, one of the trees that had towered over the house was right on top of it.

“I’ve got a few holes in the roof,” Ruppel said.

On Wednesday, Dan Strange of Quality Tree Service came over to survey the damage and figure out how to remove the tree for Ruppel without causing any more damage to the house.

“I’m going to take this tree off this house,” Strange said. “We’re going to section it out in little pieces. If I take it off all at once, it will crash the bricks in. If I don’t do it right, it will cause further damage to the property.”

He told Ruppel he could have the tree removed yet that same day, but then Strange said the tenant or his landlord would have to see about getting tarps or something to cover the holes where the tree had broken through the roof.

Ruppel said he was relieved at hearing that the contractor would be able to get the tree down, but he was not quite sure yet how to fix the holes in the roof.

“We’re going to have to figure that out,” he said, but added that he was not too worried about it as it was covered by insurance.

Ruppel’s tree removal contractor was quite busy Wednesday morning, heading from one call about a downed tree to another and then yet another.

The second of those calls was at 130 S. Ensign St., where strong winds Tuesday had uprooted a tree and sent it crashing into the backyard and at least one branch on the neighbor’s roof.

When the tree fell, it also “ripped the power lines out of the house,” resident Jessica Schrum said.

The Fort Morgan Light & Power Department responded to their call, she said, but “they just got the power going this morning.”

There was no other major damage to the house, Schrum said, although she did not yet know Wednesday if her neighbor’s roof had sustained any damage from the tree branch that had broken off on top of it.

“Thankfully it fell this way,” resident Jessica Schrum said, pointing to her backyard. “It messed up the chicken coop a bit, but the chickens and dogs are all fine.”

Strange also responded Wednesday to a call about this fallen tree. He said it would not be too hard to remove it, although it would take a fair amount of caution because of the branch on the neighbor’s roof.

“We’ll just have to be careful and get it down in a manner that won’t cause any more damage,” Strange said.

He also had another call to head to yet Wednesday in the 300 block of Meeker Street.

“I’ve been doing this for 38 years,” Strange said. “The wind is our best salesman.”

Fort Morgan Light & Power had at least seven calls Tuesday, nearly all of which were for trees being knocked down and through power lines, according to City Clerk/Public Information Officer John Brennan.

Electric service had been restored to all city customers as of Wednesday afternoon, he said. There was one light pole in south Fort Morgan that was broken Tuesday amid the strong winds.

Also on Tuesday, the city electric department disconnected power at the New Concept Inn off of West Platte Avenue/U.S. Highway 34 “because of a fire that was threatening a structure,” Brennan said.

Out at Fort Morgan Municipal Airport, the wind caught hold of the roof on an equipment storage structure and blew it off, he said. That roof then hit a Scott Aviation’s vehicle, “causing a scratched window and various dents, as well as the airport courtesy vehicle owned by the City, causing a broken back window.” The airport’s fixed-base operator building also got hit by the debris and had some dents.